Kangaroo Pintxos and Heavenly Bacon: Five Dishes To Order at Gildas

At Gildas, Hastie champions flavours and dishes drawn from his own time spent living and working in the Basque region. Naturally, that means pintxos – the region’s signature small bites – and Spanish wine, but with plenty of local twists.

“We’re focused on creating Basque-inspired dishes using Australian produce, bringing it from Lennox’s time in the Basque Country and bringing it to life here in Surry Hills,” says Gildas’s head chef Josh Donachie.

And while Gildas bills itself as a complement to Firedoor – a place to get a pre-dinner glass of manzanilla sherry and a few pintxos to whet the appetite – the menu is well suited to diners who want to stick around and experience Hastie’s interpretation of Basque Country flavours.

It’s also one of the restaurants you can visit through Bookings With Benefits, a Broadsheet and NAB dining program that takes $50 off your bill when you spend $250 or more on your NAB credit or debit card at participating restaurants – including Gildas – around the country.

Matilda

Pintxos are all about putting maximum flavour into a single bite and, with the Matilda, chef Donachie does it by way of an iconic Australian protein and other unique local ingredients.

“We’ve got kangaroo striploin that’s seared over hot coals on the fire,” he says. “Then we’ve got a native pepperberry dressing, some peppers on there to add a little bit of warmth and fruitiness, some dehydrated black olive and a succulent called karkalla, which adds a nice salty flavour profile to the kangaroo.”

Pan txangurro

Pan txangurro essentially just means “bread with crab”, but the Gildas version is much more than the sum of its parts. Donachie and the team start with a slice of pimento bread, toasted over the fire and topped with a souped-up spanner crab mixture.

“We’re using spanner crab from Fraser Isle,” he says. “We make almost like a bechamel using soffritto, which is cooked down, some pimento, then top it with an aioli. Once it’s toasted, then we put the spanner crab on, then we finish it with pimento flakes on top, and it’s just a really great bite.”

Tortilla de patatas

The Spanish tortilla couldn’t be further away from the Central American flatbread of the same name. The Gildas iteration of the traditional Iberian omelette is made from a mix of eggs, white onion and confit potatoes – plus some optional extras, if you so choose.

“You can either have a tortilla patatas, so it’s just plain, or you can add manchego, which seems to be a favourite,” says Donachie. “You can add piperade, which is cooked down capsicums, onion, garlic and tomato, or you can add my personal favourite, jamon. Some people do add all three, some people keep it plain, but it’s entirely up to you.”

Bife

Beside the small bites at Gildas, there are some shareable, substantial mains, like this hearty hunk of Westholme Wagyu.

“We’re using the bolar blade at the moment and we’re using full-blood Wagyu, which is a really great product,” Donachie says. “Then we serve it with roasted onions that we caramelise nice and soft, get them really sweet, and finish with a touch of vinegar.”

The Wagyu then gets a dose of the house-style compound butter, a Basque-style play on cafe de Paris.

“We call it cafe de Gilda butter,” Donachie says. “We’re using espelette, pimento, piparras or guindilla, [and] olives. We’ve got preserved lemon in there, a little bit of anchovy, lovage and a bit of tarragon. It’s really great and complements the beef really well.”

Tocino de cielo

Donachie’s favourite Gildas dessert, tocino de cielo, translates to “heavenly bacon”, but the name’s a bit of a misnomer.

“There’s no bacon in it – it’s primarily made of egg yolks, sugar and water,” he says. “It’s like a creme caramel but better, and no cream. We change the garnish with the seasons. In the past we’ve finished with a cherry caramel, but at the moment we’re using cumquats that we slowly ferment for about seven days. It’s super rich, super indulgent, absolutely delicious, and what a way to finish a meal.”

The Broadsheet Dining Program Special Offer of a $50 discount when you spend $250 or more is available when you dine at a Participating Restaurant between 13 January 2026 and 16 December 2026. To be eligible for the Discount Offer, you must make a booking via the NAB Exclusive Booking Link for the Participating Restaurant which is found on the Broadsheet Booking Page and spend a minimum of $250 on your NAB credit card. Between 2 June 2026 and 16 December 2026, the Discount Offer will also be available on NAB debit card payments at select venues. The Discount Offer will apply at the Restaurant when you pay the final bill amount including GST and service fees and charges (if any) with your NAB credit card (includes a digital NAB credit card) or NAB debit card (includes a digital NAB debit card) at select venues. The Discount Offer is only valid once per booking and will not apply to any split bills and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. For the full Terms and Conditions of this Offer, please click here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with NAB.